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General Blog Posts

Using Global Equations: Modeling Room Air Temperature in a House

September 20, 2013

An interesting question came up the other day that I felt would make an excellent blog post since it allows us to discuss one of the very powerful, and often underutilized, features of COMSOL Multiphysics: the Global Equation. In this post, we will look at using global equations to introduce an additional degree of freedom to a model. This additional degree of freedom will represent something we do not want to model explicitly.

How to Implement a Mesh Refinement Study

August 6, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, I led a webinar on postprocessing and visualization features in COMSOL Multiphysics. This webinar was very popular among COMSOL users, so I wanted to follow up with a blog post to highlight one of the important topics we covered — performing a mesh refinement study in COMSOL Multiphysics.

Using Gradient-Free Optimization

August 2, 2013

The COMSOL Optimization Module includes both gradient-based and gradient-free optimization techniques. Whereas the gradient-based optimization method can compute an exact analytic derivative of an objective function and any associated constraint functions, it does require these functions to be smooth and differentiable. In this blog post, we examine the use of the gradient-free optimizer, which can consider objective function and constraints that are not differentiable or smooth. The dimensions of a spinning wheel are optimized to reduce the mass while maintaining […]

How to 3D Print COMSOL Models

June 25, 2013

Quite often we get asked the question “can I 3D print my COMSOL model?” Well, as of version 4.3b, the answer is “yes!” This is because it is now possible to export geometries and meshes as STL files, which is one of the standard file formats for 3D printing. This allows for rapid prototyping of designs; there is no need to outsource parts to machine shops. It is quite remarkable that you could conceive, simulate, optimize, and prototype a design […]

Quick Intro to Permanent Magnet Modeling

June 21, 2013

I’ve written several blog entries involving permanent magnets, in one way or another. Reading those may have raised the question “what about a more simple introduction to permanent magnet simulations?” Fair enough, here’s how to model a permanent magnet and its surrounding magnetic field.

Video: 2D Models from Cross Sections of 3D Geometries

June 11, 2013

A while back, I blogged about a new feature made available in COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3b, the ability to create 2D models from the cross sections of 3D geometries. We are so excited for this new feature that we decided to make a video showing you how easy it is to use.

Using Curvilinear Coordinates

May 28, 2013

Curvilinear coordinates are a coordinate system where the coordinate lines may be curved. The new user interface for automatic computation of curvilinear coordinates is a very practical addition to version 4.3b for those working with anisotropic materials in free-form CAD designs. If you have a generic bent shape and try to apply the usual coordinate systems like Cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical, you are out of luck. Curvilinear coordinates are needed to smoothly follow the design, which typically has no mathematical […]

Mesh Refinement for Wave Problems

May 24, 2013

This week we are happy to have Kyle Koppenhoefer of AltaSim Technologies as a guest blogger. As COMSOL Certified Consultants, AltaSim can share valuable insights into using the software — today on the topic of meshing wave problems. As part of our efforts to assist COMSOL users in performing high-quality analysis, we recently used our bi-monthly email to remind users to include twelve degrees of freedom per wavelength when meshing wave problems. This article builds on our previous advice. Wave-type […]


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